<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
  <title>BBC SPORT | Olympics | Gymnastics | China win first women's team gold</title>
  <meta name="keywords" content="BBC, Sport, BBC Sport, bbc.co.uk, world, uk, international, foreign, british, online, service">
  <meta name="OriginalPublicationDate" content="2008/08/13 04:49:14">
  <meta name="UKFS_URL" content="/sport1/hi/olympics/gymnastics/7557740.stm">
  <meta name="IFS_URL" content="/sport2/hi/olympics/gymnastics/7557740.stm">
  <meta name="ROBOTS" content="NOARCHIVE">
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8">
  <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/shared/css/printthispage.css">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">
  <div class="logo">
    <img src="/sol/shared/img/printer_friendly/sport_logo.gif" width="197" height="34" alt="BBC SPORT">
  </div>
  <div class="headline">
    China win first women's team gold
  </div>

  
    
      
      <div class="bo">
    
    
      
        <!--SvideoInStoryB-->
      
    
      
        <!--Semp-->
      
    
      
        <!--Swarning-->
      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Please turn on JavaScript.
      
    
      
         Media requires JavaScript to play. 
      
    
      
        <!--Ewarning-->
      
    
      
        <!--Eemp-->
      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Video - China women win team gymantics
      
    
      
        <!--EvideoInStoryB-->
      
    
    </div>
  

  
    
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        <b>
      
    
      
        China overcame an injury-ravaged United States team to clinch their first women's team gymnastics Olympic title.
      
    
      
        </b>
      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Cheng Fei fell from the balance beam but China still beat the world champions by 2.375 points, while 2004 champions Romania settled for bronze.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        The United States entered the final with only four fit gymnasts, and major errors on the balance beam and floor exercise ended their chances of gold.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Reigning champions Romania won bronze, five points behind the Americans.

      
    
    
  

  
    
      
      <div class="bo">
    
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        With the two best gymnasts in the world and the Olympic gold medal at their fingertips, the Americans folded under pressure.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        They went before the Chinese in the final rotation, the floor exercise - and after team captain Alicia Sacramone landed her second pass flat on her back, the gold medal was gone.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        But US team coordinator Martha Karolyi believes America would have won gold if officials had not disrupted Sacramone's preparations.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Karolyi said: "First they called her name up, then they did not even put her name up even though the Chinese had finished, (it was) totally unusual holding."

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        "She was mentally prepared and then she had a mental break, then after not doing the job on the beam, her concentration for the floor exercise was bothered."

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
    </div>
  

  
    
      
      <div class="ibox">
    
    
      
        <table >
      
    
      
        <tr>
      
    
      
        <td width="5">
      
    
      
        </td>
      
    
      
        <td class="fact">
      
    
      
        <div class="sihf">
      
    
      
        
			                            BBC OLYMPICS BLOG
			                        
      
    
      
        </div>
      
    
      
        <!--Smva-->
      
    
      
        <b>
      
    
    
  

  
    
    
      
        
      
    
      
        
      
    
      
        
      
    
    
  

  
    
      
      <div class="ibox">
    
    
      
        </b>
      
    
      
        <br />
      
    
      
        <!--Smva-->
      
    
      
        <!--Smva-->
      
    
      
        Matt Slater
      
    
      
        <!--Emva-->
      
    
      
        <!--Emva-->
      
    
      
        </td>
      
    
      
        </tr>
      
    
      
        </table>
      
    
    
  

  
    
      
        
        </div>
      
      <div class="bo">
    
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Sacramone fell off the beam trying to perform a backward jumping mount and admitted that the delay had caused her to lose her concentration and that, as a knock on, it affected her performance on the final exercise.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        "I was just really eager to do my routine, but they did hold me for quite some time and I guess I lost my nerve a little bit," said the 20-year-old.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        "I guess it was just a little bit too hard to get out of that funk, it affected me on floor a little bit."

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        To compound their misery, Sacromone's floor problems triggered errors from Shawn Johnson - the reigning all-around and floor world champion - and Nastia Liukin who both stepped out of bounds.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        That meant China's final three routines were mere victory dances, and Deng Linlin, Jiang Yuyuan and Cheng Fei played the part to perfection.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Chinese coach Lu Shanzhen, who has transformed a team that failed to win a single gymnastic medal in Athens four years ago, said the victory was an historic moment: "I'm really excited, this is the strongest team we've ever had and we've won the most important medal on home soil.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        "The gold medal could attract more children to gymnastics in China and we will be even stronger in the future."

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        It has also been revealed that Chellsie Memmel competed for the US with a broken bone in her right ankle.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        The 2003 world champion on the bars injured her ankle during training on 4 August but competed in both the preliminaries and team finals.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        "I just had to believe in myself and know that I could do it," she said.

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        "I have mixed emotions, I would have loved to compete on four events, but the silver medal for my team is great."

      
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        China finished with a total of 188.900, with the United States on 186.525.

      
    
    </div>
  

  

  
    
    
      
        
      
    
    
  

  

  
    
    
      
        
      
    
      
        
      
    
      
        
      
    
    
  

  
    
      
      <div class="bo">
    
    
      
        <p />
      
    
      
        Find out about the Beijing gymnastics and handball venue

      
    
    </div>
  

  

  

  

<div class="footer">
Story from BBC SPORT:<br>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/olympics/gymnastics/7557740.stm<br>
<br>
Published: 2008/08/13 04:49:14 GMT<br>
<br>
&copy; BBC MMVIII<br>
</div>
</body>
</html>
